I want to say how great it is to be in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We love Pastor David and Missy. They are beautiful friends of ours, and we go way back. You can tell a lot about a leader if you look at their kids. If their kids love God, love the church, and love each other, you have a great leader and a great family. Rise Church, you have great pastors here.
I really love the local church. In our world, we say that the local church is the hope of the world. If I had a life message, it would be why: we have the only thing that works, and His name is Jesus. We have His Word, His Spirit, His power, His truth, and His promises. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. So we have to get it right.
We are in a war
One of my favorite topics to talk about is how we fight, how we conquer, how we overcome. I love when the Bible tells me I am more than a conqueror.
I didn’t get into a lot of fights growing up. I was probably more of a lover than a fighter. Honestly, I probably love this topic because of my church background. I grew up in a church where everybody was mad. I remember deacons fighting. I remember choir members fighting. I remember puppets fighting on Sunday morning. This is a serious story: I remember deacons pushing and shoving in the parking lot. Those were not the best examples of fighting, but I believe it was great spiritual training, because we are in a war. A. W. Tozer said, “A spiritual Christian looks upon the world not as a playground, but as a battleground.”
Look at what Paul tells us in the passage for this series:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:10-12 (NIV)
If you break down that word “schemes,” it means the devil is calculating his deception. He is probably putting more intentionality into deceiving us than we are putting into overcoming him.
Verse 12 tells us there is a war and there is a struggle. If you are struggling today in your mind, your heart, your marriage, or your relationships, welcome to the club. I am a charter member of the struggle club. But Paul says our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Not against each other. Not deacons pushing and shoving in the parking lot. It’s against the spiritual forces of evil. This is serious business. It’s every day, and sometimes it’s life or death.
Then verse 13 tells us to do two things: put on the armor, and stand. In other words, there is a war and we have a place in it. We don’t just acknowledge the war. We fight against what’s coming against us.
Everybody deals with pride
In the first week of this series, Dr. Copeland talked about fear. Now we’re talking about pride.
When you talk about pride, it’s usually somebody saying, “I know someone who is definitely dealing with pride.” Or, “I sure hope so-and-so takes notes today.” Or, “It’s about time, Pastor, because I can’t wait to send my notes to so-and-so.” If you are saying that right now, welcome to the message today.
What is pride commonly viewed as? An inflated ego, when someone acts like they’re bigger than everyone else. A condescending persona, when someone feels like they’re better than everyone else. Self-glorification: “I’m badder than everybody else.” Bigger, better, and badder.
But could pride also be when we make decisions without thinking or asking? When we refuse to learn new things? When I only want to be around people and situations that are smaller than me? When I want the final say-so in everything, or I take credit and never honor others?
I actually think there is a healthy pride too. It says, “I’m going to take care of myself. I’m going to do things well. I’m going to use what I have to do great things.”
We all deal with some kind of pride. A couple of years ago, we were traveling as a family, and let me tell you, when it comes to airports, I am the expert. I know how to navigate the parking deck, the check-in counter, the luggage, the tickets on the app, and the gate.
We were at the Atlanta airport, and we got there early. We sat a couple of gates down from ours, and our boys said, “Hey, Dad, we have to watch the clock, because we’re getting close to boarding.”
I said, “Son, I know what I’m doing. How dare you question my airport ability?”
I went to work on some emails. Then my youngest said, “Hey, Dad, I think it’s time.”
I said, “Hey, now, I know what I’m doing.” Then I looked down and realized he was right. We ran down the terminal and got to the gate, and you probably know what happened. We missed the flight. We had to take the walk of shame down to the rental car area, rent a car, and drive all the way home. That was a very difficult ride.
Every Christian deals with this. The Bible says we also deal with spirits of darkness that are trying to invade our lives: fear, pride, offense, hatred, division. But I have great news. God gives us the authority to fight against all these spirits, and we win!
First, understand what pride is
So how do we win this war against pride? First, we need to understand what pride is.
Pride is spiritual
In Mark 7, the disciples were talking about food, and whether certain food defiles us. Jesus taught them that it’s not the food you put in that defiles you. It’s what comes out of your heart.
“It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:20-23 (NLT)
The things we think are just behaviors are actually a condition of our hearts. And the devil will use them to steal, kill, and destroy us. Pride is spiritual.
Pride is subtle
It’s easier to recognize pride in someone else than in ourselves. I heard someone say one time, “I’m probably the most humble person you’re going to meet.” That doesn’t make sense. Or someone says, “I’m very proud of my humility.” Wait, what?
Obadiah 1:3 says, “You have been deceived by your own pride.” And Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.” What does that verse tell us? That we can’t trust us. We can actually be full of pride and not even know it.
Pride is sabotaging
That’s a little scary, because pride is also sabotaging. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” Pride destroys relationships. It destroys marriages, leadership, and opportunities. It destroys growth.
Every now and then, as pastors, we sit down with couples for marriage counseling. Do you know what they come in with? Their list of everything wrong with their spouse. So I like to change it up. I say, “At the next meeting, let’s make another list.”
They say, “Oh, yeah. Give me a pen full of ink and a big yellow legal pad. I’m ready to write down everything wrong with him.”
I say, “No, I want you to write a big old list, but I want you to put your name at the top of it. What do you need to fix within you? Because it’s destroying this marriage.”
Second Chronicles tells the story of King Uzziah. He became king when he was 16 years old, and the Bible says he reigned for 52 years. But 2 Chronicles 26 has one of the saddest verses in the entire Bible:
But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. 2 Chronicles 26:16 (NLT)
See if you can relate to this cycle. God helped him. He became powerful. He became proud. And then he fell. C. S. Lewis said it this way: “Pride is spiritual cancer.”
So we know pride is destructive. But here is the good news. We don’t have to live defeated by pride, and we don’t have to be identified by it. We can overcome.
Jesus is the greatest example
So how do we fight the spiritual battle against pride? When you’re in Sunday school and the teacher asks a question, what’s the answer every single time? Jesus. That’s definitely the case here. There is no better example in all of Scripture.
Paul wrote Philippians from prison, at one of the lowest points of his life. He had every reason to be angry, bitter, and selfish. Instead, he told the church in Philippi, “Don’t be selfish. Think of others more than you think of yourself.” Then he showed them how:
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8 (NLT)
“Though he was God” means He had the goods. He had the credentials to come to earth and demand worship. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges. In the original language, it means He chose to empty Himself.
The Creator became the creation. He gave up heaven for a broken earth. I was at a funeral the other day, and I love saying this at a funeral: I’m sick of earth. I’m ready for heaven! But Jesus chose to give up heaven and come to a broken earth. That is the ultimate act of humility. Charles Spurgeon said it is a miracle of miracles that the infinite became an infant.
And because He chose this, verse 9 says, “God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.” Every knee will bow and every tongue will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. What an example!
How we fight the battle of pride
We fight pride by following the example of Jesus. And just as Jesus had to choose it, we have to choose it too. I wish I could wake up in the morning and not be full of pride automatically. How cool would that be? But it’s a choice. So what did Jesus do? Three things.
1. Choose humility
Humility is not automatic. It’s not sitting on the inside of us, waiting to bubble out. Jesus chose to give up His divine privileges. The real antidote to pride is humility, but it is a choice, and choosing to be humble, choosing to be low, choosing to be less, is harder than it looks.
Who would benefit if we chose humility? Moms and dads, our kids would learn the ways of humility. They would not think it was all about them. Husbands, our wives could be right about some things every now and then. Wives, your husband could believe in himself a tad more. Bosses, you could build teamwork and ownership. Leaders, you would create a culture of empowerment.
But it’s not easy. If it were easy, there would be no pride. If it were easy, there would be no traffic jams and no need for horns.
It takes trust to choose humility. Some of you might be afraid to empty yourself the way Jesus did. You might be afraid of being taken advantage of, of being left out, or of being looked over. I love James 4:10: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”
That tells me trust is the first cousin of humility. Humility says, “I will trust God to protect my vulnerabilities, my weaknesses, my fears, and my future.” We choose that every single morning, because we trust God that when we go low, He lifts us up.
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NLT)
So how do we choose humility? We give our worries to God. We live low, and we trust. Here is a good prayer: “Lord, help me to trust You more than I trust myself.”
2. Choose to serve
The Bible says Jesus took the humble position of a slave. Do you know the best way to fight against pride? Serve someone. That’s why being on the Dream Team is so spiritually powerful. And it’s why the Dream Team are some of the most joy-filled people at church. There is joy and fulfillment in serving others.
Pride will always ask, “What can you do for me?” Jesus could have asked that. But humility asks, “What can I do for you?” Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
In marriage counseling, I’ve seen that every marriage has two words that are exact opposites. One can destroy the best of marriages, and the other can heal the most broken marriage. Selfishness and selflessness. Someone said it best: the best marriages are two servants in love.
In John 13, Jesus is at the Last Supper. Judas is there, about to betray Him. And Jesus does something incredible.
Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. John 13:3-5 (NLT)
Jesus knew who He was. When you know who you are, choosing humility is way easier. When you don’t know who you belong to or the purpose of God on your life, it tends to push us toward promoting ourselves.
What is Jesus teaching us? How to fight against pride. You choose towels, not titles. You serve others, because it starves our pride and feeds our joy.
So how do you do this? Join the Dream Team. Bring donuts to work. Pick a compliment day and give compliments to the people around you all day long. Find a need and fill it. Here is the prayer: “Lord, help me to think of me less and more of others.”
3. Choose to obey
Philippians tells us that Jesus humbled Himself in obedience to God. That was not easy. He agreed to die a criminal’s death on a cross.
So what does it mean for us to choose to obey? In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6, Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” When I pray that, I’m saying, “Lord, I want what You want. I choose Your ways over my ways.” A commitment to God’s ways, and a rejection of our own ways, makes us beneficiaries of God’s blessings.
How does obedience defeat pride? Obedience says, “I will follow God and His ways.” Obedience is surrendering our right to be in control. Obedience says, “I’m not calling the shots. You are, God.”
In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, and sacrifice him. That made zero sense. Isaac was the son of promise. Abraham and Sarah had believed for this son, and so much was wrapped up in this promise. If Abraham could ever have reasoned his way out of a decision, it was this one. He could have said, “That isn’t God.”
Have you ever heard the Lord and thought, “No, that isn’t the Lord”? You’re in traffic, somebody is trying to get over, and the Lord says, “Let them over.” And you say, “Nope, that isn’t the Lord. They should have left earlier.”
Abraham could have done that. But what did he do? He obeyed.
The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Genesis 22:3 (NLT)
He didn’t question it or doubt it. He got up early. That is a beautiful, clear picture of humility in obedience. Now, this is an extreme example, and for the record, I would not have passed this test.
Pride demands understanding before obedience. Pride says, “I need to know how this will work. I need to understand before I move, before I believe, before I serve, before I trust. I need to see how this will end before I obey.”
This story reveals a powerful truth. Pride is about lordship. Who is Lord? Is it me, or is it God? If it’s you, how’s that going for you? I am a terrible lord. I miss flights trying to be the lord of the airport. I put the whole family in a small compact rental car that cost $250 because I’m a horrible lord.
The true test of humility isn’t whether we’ll obey God when it’s easy. It’s whether we’ll obey Him when it costs us something. If we want to win the battle against pride, choose today to fully commit to saying yes to God and yes to His ways.
What are you still trying to control?
Take a little inventory. What area of your life are you still trying to control instead of surrendering to God? For some of you, and me included, holding on to that might be what’s causing the pain, the fear, or the sleepless nights. Trying to control everything. Trying to avoid pain or hurt. Trying to fix family, work, and relationships. Coming up with ways to survive a desperate situation.
You may not call that pride. You might call it survival, or hustle, or grit, or protection. But what if the very things you are trying to control are the things God is asking you to surrender? Pride says, “I’ve got it.” Humility says, “God, You can have it, and I will obey.”
So how do we do this? We pray first. Maybe it’s time to let that thing go. And some of you need to obey. Lead that small group. Say yes when God speaks. Here is our prayer: “Lord, help me to surrender and obey no matter the cost.”
Winning is conquering ourselves
Jesus humbled Himself, and while humbling Himself, He conquered the greatest challenges. He is a beautiful picture of strength in humility. It’s not the controlling or the grabbing. It’s the releasing and the bowing low. Jesus showed us that winning is not conquering things or obstacles or other people. Winning is conquering ourselves.
So when pride tells me I don’t need help, I will choose humility. When pride tells me everything should revolve around me, I will choose to serve. And when pride tells me I have to be in control, I will choose obedience.
Pray this with me: “Lord, forgive me for controlling, for not serving others, and for only thinking of myself. I reject pride today. It will not sabotage me. I choose to live the way You lived. Help me choose humility, choose to serve, and choose to obey.”
Make Him Lord
If you have never made Jesus Lord, that is the greatest choice you will ever make. God wants to save you, forgive you, heal you, and help you. When you make Him Lord, He calls the shots. You are secure, you know who you are, and you are forgiven.
Pray this with me: “Jesus, today I give You my life. I surrender, and I invite You to be the Lord of my life. I ask for Your forgiveness and Your grace. Save me, cleanse me, and make me new. I believe You are the Son of God, who paid the price for me on the cross, who died and rose again to give me life. So today I choose You. Thank You for saving me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
If you prayed that prayer, we would love to help you take your next step. Visit rise.church to let us know.
